Hello everyone, after countless hours of lurking on this site (and HB as well) this is my first foray out into the open. I owe a huge thank you to everyone here for helping me along my way as I've discovered the world of espresso. You guys are awesome.

To get to my point, I am interested in creating an iPhone app for espresso junkies who measure and record the details of their brewing process. Here's my idea:

The app should be cable of tracking almost any conceivable measurable variable in the espresso brewing process starting with the roasted beans and ending with tasting notes. You should be able to select only those variables which you intend to track, and customize the app's recording flow to match your process. Finally, various graphs and reports should be available and customizable based on stored past results. For example, you should be able to create a graph showing volume of espresso as a function of time or grind setting, or maybe graph overall taste rating compared to age of roast.

Here are the variable that I think should be available (are there any you think I am missing?):

I envision that this app's workflow, once customized, will seamlessly step through the inputs for each shot in the same order you actually perform the steps, even displaying a timer when appropriate and, if desired, recording important intermediate time hacks during the pull, such as blonding time. After the shot is complete, it will prompt for tasting notes, again only if desired, and display any calculated metrics requested (such as grounds to espresso ratio, times recorded, etc)

So far, I haven't found an app that does anything like this, have you?

What do you think of the idea? Would you want to use it? If I get enough interest in the idea, I will consider developing the app.

I might be interested in using it. If it were free, I'd probably download. after that, if I found I wasn't using it, I'd delete it. I've been too lazy to record my parameters, but if I were to do that, it wold be very helpful to me to know which direction and approximately how far to move my grinder when changing from bean x to bean y. Also, I sometimes forget what dose I preferred bean x at.

EDITS:

1) I suspect I would be more likely to use the app than a pen and pad

2) I may also possibly use it for press pot as well. I actually have a log on my work PC for my Espro press experimentation. In this log, I have some details about the overall process (logistics), dose weights, water temps, significant points in brew times (bloom length, full pour time, stir time, press time), OE Lido setting, tasting notes. I probably would include clarity (amount of fines in the cup).

The graph I would like would illustrate the spectrum of grind setting, where I could place each bean/blend with respect to the others.

.Always remember the most important thing is what ends up in your cup!

2. Figure out an effective look and feel (iPhone apps are a significant challenge when you are working with a lot of different data items, such as the full set you suggest. The "etc" item is typically the source of many problems.)

3. Build a prototype

4. Select a test audience and provide the app free in exchange for feedback

5. If the response is overwhelmingly positive, make a general release, otherwise take the suggestions and modify what you have.

6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 as necessary until you get the overwhelmingly positive response.

Emradguy: I really hadn't thought of supporting other variable-intensive methods of brewing, like press pot and pour over, because I don't use them much myself. These methods would fit right in though, so I may have to learn more about them. It's starting to become clear that there are so many possible variables different user might want to track, I may need allow users to create their own variables. I don't think that would be very hard.

Johnboddie: thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to sit down and try to diagram out the app page by page. Maybe I'll post it here when I do.

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